“Gimpel the Fool”, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, tells the tale of a Jewish baker living in the traditional Jewish village of Frampol. Raised an orphan, Gimpel never had anyone to stop him when others were leading him into being fooled. As he grew up, his gullibility earned him the title “the Fool”, and the entire village of Frampol referred to him as such. But was he truly the fool everyone made him up to be? In his youth, Gimpel was picked on and made fun of for being easily fooled. Gimpel, however, was rarely unaware of his peers' intent. Gimpel simply preferred to avoid confrontation and simply let them “take advantage of [him]” (96). This purposeful show of pacifism does not make Gimpel a fool, but quite the opposite. And even though if he slapped someone they'd “see all the way to Cracow”, Gimpel was “not a slugger by nature” so he'd “let it pass” (96,96,96). He knowingly let his peers “fool” him and take advantage of him simply to avoid having to deal with conflict. Gimpel does not see any harm in letting himself be fooled, and just in case they might actually be telling the tru...
Upon arrival at the mead hall, Grendel notices the door is much to small for him to enter through it easily. This does not make him happy because it happens everywhere he goes in the little human towns. So he squeezes his shoulders through the small opening and manages to ask the man at the nearest table what was going on. The man, being exhausted from his own celebrations, was to tired to even notice the beast standing over him. Monsters of Grendel's type are not used to be ignored and see it as disrespectful and so do not like to be ignored. Which is why Grendel pulled his head from the doorway and reached his claw in to snatch up unsuspecting man. Everyone else in the room was too busy to even notice the man being lifted from his place behind his drink. With the first man out of the way, Grendel decided to try a different approach. Again, scrunching himself down partway through the door, Grendel looked for someone to tell him what was going on. He cleared his throat and said with a rough, gravelly voice, "Excuse me!" No one noticed. So he said it louder, "Excuse me!" A few heads turned. After a number of astonished gasps, more turned to see. Detecting he was now the center of attention, Grendel asked what they were all doing making so much noise so late at night. The men only stared at him. So he asked more simply and slowly, not knowing if they were intelligent or not, "What are you doing?" The only response this time was an echoed "Get him!" This surprised Grendel because they seemed to say it in unison. He jumped slightly and hit his head on the doorway. He stood up and rubbed his head and knocked over a horse and its cart with his foot.
Self preservation is not always the big motivation for those with all the power and money. For example, we see the common man talk the role of publican/innkeeper who is providing a room for Sir Cromwell. In this scene, Cromwell gets frustrated with the publican because “he does not understand” what Cromwell is trying to instruct him. Cromwell is also made the innkeeper does not know who he is and it is surprising that he expects everybody to know who he is(70).
Evil. It’s a concept that has baffled philosophers, religious figures, and the common man alike for thousands of years. In this millennium, people may exemplify evil as terrorism, genocide, or, perhaps, placing an empty milk carton back in the refrigerator. However, many remain conflicted about the exact definition of evil, as the dispute over the character Grendel, from the John Gardner novel, makes evident. To conclude that Grendel is not evil, readers must first operate under the assumption that the beast is unequivocally and thoroughly evil. Having done so, readers will notice the fallacies within this thought process. By asserting that Grendel is evil, readers blatantly disregard the ambiguity with which humanity defines its actions, as
Susan Honeyman’s “Gingerbread Wishes and Candy(land) Dreams: the lure of food in cautionary tales of consumption” discusses the complexity of food within literature, particularly in folktales, fairy tales, and cautionary tales. Honeyman explores the importance of food used to symbolize the “industrializing and consumerist culture”, in which a culture exists where food lures are used to provide themes concerning “expression or disempowerment.” A direct reference to how food lure is used in Chrisitina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”, food is utilized here to emphasized the nature of the text as a “imperial text, gendered, and neurotically focused on food production and consumption.” The dialogue concerning food and the two characters, Lizzie and Laura,
An enigmatic person strolls into a humble village secluded in the mountains, ignorant to many things. The enigma then enlightens the villagers to the truth whether good or bad. Mark Twain uses such a scenario in many of his works such as The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, and The Mysterious Stranger. In both stories are set in small towns who's residents are oblivious to their own moral hypocrisy. The sudden appearance of a stranger spreading a sort of knowledge, initiates a chain of events the leads to certain residents to self-evaluate their own character and that of the whole human race. It's is through these "Mysterious Strangers" and the events they trigger that Twain is able to depict his unfiltered cynical view of the moral status of the damned" human race.
“Ah, Grendel!” he said. He seemed that instant almost to rise to pity. “You improve them, my boy! Can’t you see that yourself? You stimulate them! You make them think and scheme. You drive them to poetry, science, religion, all that makes them what they are for as long as they last. You are, so to speak, the brute existent by which they learn to define themselves” (Gardner
Girard discusses four stereotypes of persecution: collective persecution, crisis, lack of difference, and persecution of difference. I claim Marie Antoinette is the most important example because she represents the stereotypes of persecution.
In “The Miller’s Tale”, the poet Chaucer depicts the tale of a “hende” man and his attempt to tempt the “primerole” Alisoun to commit adultery and therefore render her husband, John a “cokewold”. The Miller’s Tale is just one story amongst a collection of greater works known collectively as “The Canterbury Tales”. The placing of this tale is significant becomes it comes directly after the Knight’s Tale revolving around nobility and chivalry and forms a direct contrast due to the fact it is bawdy, lewd and highly inappropriate. The tale is a fabliau, a versified short story designed to make you laugh; concerned usually with sexual or excretory functions. The plot often involves members of the clergy, and is usually in the form of a practical joke carried out for love or revenge and fabliaux are often viewed as a lower class genre.
“The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County” is a short story by Mark Twain that deals with deception and cleverness. This story is a first person account of an incident in which the (nameless) narrator was tricked by a friend of his into listening to a lengthy story told by the monotonous and lethargic Simon Wheeler. Ironically, the story Wheeler tells regarding the “celebrated jumping frog” is about a man named Jim Smiley who, like the narrator, is beguiled and deceived by another individual. In Wheeler’s story, Jim Smiley practices a certain level of deception and trickery on a regular basis and ends up having the tables turned on him. This story suggests that trickery and deceit will eventually catch up with you.
Shakespeare's work, Measure for Measure, puts the "problem" in "problem play" as it, examines the difference between law and justice, virtue and goodness. It's a case study of abuse of power that has a particularly contemporary resonance. Isabella is a very intriguing Shakespearean female. She is one of the few intelligent females who are also innocent and holy. Measure for Measure focuses primarily on her moral dilemma. Does she save her brother and give up her valued chastity or does she save her own soul while allowing her brother to die? By playing on Elizabethan viewpoints concerning women, nuns, and chastity, Shakespeare uses Isabella in developing his plot and theme. While Isabella is chaste and merciful in all outward appearances, she is unwilling to give up her virginity to Angelo in exchange for Claudio's life, yet she is ready to sacrifice Mariana's chastity for the cause. Isabella is so virtuous that it becomes a vanity for her.
When a young boy is found brutally murdered in a small Prussian town called Konitz, once part of Germany, now part of Poland, the Christians residing in the town lash out by inciting riots and demonstrations. Citing the incident as an act of Jewish ritual murder, better known as blood libel, Christians rendered blame on the Jews. Helmut Walser’s Smith, The Butcher’s Tale, details the murder account and the malicious consequences of superstitious belief combined with slander and exaggerated press propaganda. Foreshadowing the persecution of Jews which would take place three decades later, Smith analyzes and explains the cause and effect of anti-Semitism in Imperial Germany at the turn of the century. Utilizing Smith’s book as a primary source,
Grendel is made fun of his whole life just based on the way he looks and sounds. All Grendel wanted was to have friends and be included in things, however he is shunned and is forced into hiding in a cave far away from everyone. When the mead hall is opened everyone is invited and welcomed to come and have a good time except Grendel. This makes Grendel very upset and he becomes filled with rage. Instead of going and telling the king how that made him feel he decides to speak with his actions. Grendel goes to the mead hall and goes on a rampage killing and breaking everything and everyone in his way. Grendel did this because of how he was treated as a child both by society and his mother. Through his childhood his mother was never really there when Grendel needed her the most. On night Grendel went out on his own and got stuck in a tree. Grendel screamed for his mother "Please, Mama!”, "Owp!" I yelled. "Mama! Waa!" but she didn’t come. Time past as Grendel sat stuck in the tree until a group of men came up to the tree. The sat there on their horses staring at grendel saying things like "It's a growth of some kind, that's my opinion. Some beastlike fungus.” The men discussed what it could be until one got off his horse and said “Could be its some kind of an Oaktree spirit.” They came to the conclusion that he was hungry so the men went to get pigs. When the men left Grendel laughed because he was happy to get food. The men thought that the sound meant he was angry and moved back, then without any warning one of them picked up an ax and hurled it right at Grendel. He screamed “Surround him!” they started throwing rocks and poking Grendel with sticks, he yelled for his mother again and again and finally she came. Grendel’s mother came running in screaming and roaring. The men got so scared they hoped on their horses and rode home without looking back. The way Grendel was treated as a child has a direct
“And so the little tailor was and always remained king.” Such an ending, from “Brave Little Tailor”, a folktale collected by the Grimm brothers in the 19th century, is the perfect ending for any heroic figure. This tale originates from oral tradition, existing from pre-16th century times (Ashliman), mainly in the Germanic and East European area (Heiner), and is considered to be the folktale narrative type 1640, “Lucky Accidents”, with traces of other narrative motifs. It has also been found in different areas around the world, mainly in the Europe, but also in the Americas and Asia. Since it was first introduced in a collection by the Grimm brothers, “Brave Little Tailor”, also known as “Valiant Little Tailor”, has spread in many different
During the 1300s, stories were written as a way to pass time and to expose people’s way of life. “Federigo’s Falcon” by Giovanni Boccaccio and “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer, demonstrate that fortune had a big impact on many lives, making those with it superior to others, and how ironic life events can turn out to be.
The lack of a point of view in this play adds to the lack of sense of the characters and suspension in the play. During this time period of Decadence in France and England the apprehensions of the characters are highly insignificant and conceited. The play in its entirety has a constant satiric tone in order to depict the shallow entanglements the upper society. The Importance of Being Earnest reflects a moral value, especially earnesty, dealing with human’s daily life. One may do whatever possible to reach their goal but, being earnest is a difficult task. Even though one may secretly uphold a falsehood eventually the truth will come to the light. Hence, under any circumstance honesty is always the best policy.